In order to insure the safety of users of various products, it has become important to provide some indication of whether or not the package has been tampered with. One type of tamper indicating device that has been utilized in connection with containers having threaded necks and a radial bead below the threads, wherein a closure is threaded on the threads of the container, is to provide a band that interengages the closure and the bead of the container. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,576 a discontinuous band made of one or more portions is provided, the portions being bonded to one another. Vertical weakened lines are provided in the band so that it can be torn and when it is torn and removed it will be evident that the band has been removed. In another type of device, the band is mechanically interconnected to the closure as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,444,506.
Accordingly, among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a tamper indicating device which will effectively provide an indication of whether the contents of the container have been tampered with; which can be applied to existing closures and containers without modification of either; which does not require separate operations but is applied merely by moving axially over the closure after the closure has been applied to the container.
In accordance with the invention, the tamper indicating package comprises a container having a neck with external threads thereon, a radial bead beneath the threads, and a closure having a top wall and a peripheral skirt with internal threads on the peripheral skirt complementary to the threads on the container. The closure has a radially extending lip at the free end of the peripheral skirt. A tamper indicating band is provided and comprises a continuous annular wall, an upper radially inwardly extending flange for engaging the lip on the closure, and a lower generally radially inwardly and upwardly extending flange for engaging the flange on the container. The lower flange is discontinuous such that the tamper indicating band can be applied to the closure and container after the closure has been applied to the container by moving the band axially inwardly and causing the lower flange to flex radially outwardly and then snap radially inwardly beneath the flange of the container. The tamper indicating band includes weakened portions such that when the closure is rotated to remove the closure from the container, the lift force of the threads causes the band to be severed.